the word of God to Israel, hia inspiration being set forth under the 8>-mbol of eating' the roll of a book (chs. 2i-3l») ; third (alttr an interval of 7 daysj, a more precise definition of his office ae that of a watcliman to warn every individual of his dan^'ei (3i'>-2i); lastti/, a second ecstasy^ in which he receives the coiii- mand to sliut himself up withm his house, and to appear in public only when charged with a special message to the people (;i"-'-i7). It hits l)een supposed that th 8 ".ast passage refers to a time considembly later than the inaugural vision, and marks tln close of a tentative phase of the prophet's work, in which he 80U(,'ht to exercise the function of a public censor, until coni' pelled to desist by the obstinate resistance of the community. It is more probable, however, that the verses merely express on its negative side the same conception of his otiice as is given in vv.lfi-'S ; the propliet is a wat<:huian, because the function of a •reprover' is denied to him from the outset by bis peculiar situation. 2. In chs. 4-7 the fate of the city and nation is set forth, first, dramatically in a complicated series of sjinbols (4l - 6-*), then in three impassioned orations addressed to the city (551), the land (6), and the people (7). In the signs of ch. 4 the prophet appears to represent simultaneously two facts — the sietje of Jerus. and the captivity of the two branches of the Heb. nation. The time of Judah's exile is fixed ae 40 years, — a round number for the period of Chaldroan supremacy, — that of N. Israel at 390 years in the MT, but ISO according to the LXX. Since the destruction of Samaria preceded that of Jerus. roughly speaking by a cent, and a half, and since both capti\ i- ties terminate simultaneously, the latter figure must be accepted a.s the orig. reading. 3. The" next group of prophecies (chs. 8- Jl) is an account of a vision of the destruction of Jerus., which is important for the glimpses it ^ves into the state of things in the city at that time. After reciting the abominations practised in the temple (8), it describes, under symbols, the slaughter of the people (9), and the burning of the city (10), and ends with the departure of the Lord from the sanctuary, in token that city and temple were abandoned to their fate (U). The visionary fonn in which these truths are clothed is remarkable ; the pro- phet falls into a trance in presence of the elders of Judah, the scenes mentioned pass before his inward eye, and he awakes with a special message of consolation to the exiles, who felt keenly the reproach of being cast out from J"'8 heritage. 4. A new section begins with ch. 12, and extends apparently to the end of ch. 19. The fundamental theme is still the same, but the treatment of it is more discursive and thcoljgical. The author appears to have in view various false ideals to which the people clung, and which he seeks to demolish as obstacles to the reception of his messiige. Thus in I'Ji^O 17. ]9 he announces the fate of the king (Zedekiali), on whom the people naturally looked as the anointed of J" (cf. La 4'-^^), but who, by his perlidy to the king of Babylon (17), had brought ruin on himself and his kingdom. A certain s>Tnpathy with the misfortunes of the royal house is manifested by the beautiful dirge of ch. 19. Another section (I221-14JI) deals with the wrong use of prophecy, and the existence of false prophets, as causes of the popular unbelief. Ch. 16 (Israel a charred and worthless vine branch) strikes a blow at the false patriotism which sustained the people's pride under their accumulated national calamities, and ch. 16 exhibits in an allegory the true character of Jerus. as the ungrateful and unfaithful spouse of J". Ch. 18 asserts the absolute righteousness of God in His dealings with individual men, and thus indirectly assails the
Prevalent doctrine of the solidarity of the nation, which had egotten a cynical temper of mind expressed by the proverb : * the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are blunted ' (v. 2). But it must be wimitted that this groun of discourses hanily dilTers in general character from that which follows. 5. The last division (chs. 20 24) contains three oracles (20. 22. 23) of the nature of formal arraignments of the people of Israel, in which the moral necessity of its destruction is shown from its past history and its present condition. The keynote of ch. 20 is found in' the remarkable purpose attributed to the people, that they would assimilate themselves to the heathen, worshipping wood and stone (v.3-). It is impossible to say whether this refers to a particular current of opinion he- ginning to prevail among the exiles, or whether it is an expres- sion of the spirit manifested l)y the nation at all times of itf, history. In either case the argument of the chapter is directed to show that the destinies of Israel hod been determined by a power higher than its own natural proclivities,— namely, J"'h regard for the glory of His name,— and that that power would yet break the idolatrous tendencies of the nation, and make Israel to be in fact, as it was in name, the people of J". Ch. 22 is an enumeration of the religious and social corruptions prevalent in Jerus., now on the eve of its destruction ; ch. 23 18 an allegory, in the manner of ch. 16, exhibiting the immorali- ties of the two profligate sisters, Ohola (Samaria) and Ohoti- bah (Jerus.). The two remaining discourses wore composed under the immediate influence of contemporary events. Ch. 21 (containing the wil<i 'song of the sword,' vv.l*W (EV O-H)) refers to the march of Nobucha^Inezzar's army against Jerus. Ch. 24 records the dramatic close of the first period of E.'s activity. On the very day when the Chaldmans invested Jerus. he uttered a final oracle announcing lt« fate. The death of the prophet's wife on the evening of the same day becomes the occasion of a symbol of the despair and bewnlderment that will seize on the exiles when they receive tidings of the fall of the city.